Texas top court sides with cheerleaders in Bible banner suit

HOUSTON (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court has ruled in favor of high school cheerleaders who argued that their free speech was trampled by their school district when it ordered them not to display banners emblazoned with Bible verses at football games.

The court in its opinion Friday acknowledged that the Kountze (koontz) school district, northeast of Houston, later allowed the banners. But the justices determined their ruling was necessary to protect the display of religious-themed signs in the future because the district has argued it retains the right to restrict them.

A state district judge in 2013 ruled the banners were constitutionally permissible, but an appeals court later sided with the district in rejecting the cheerleaders' argument.